


Social Status

by AniPendragon



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Pre-Femslash, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 04:59:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5614789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AniPendragon/pseuds/AniPendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amidst their training, Weiss stumbles upon Yang, changing. The conversation that follows reveals why Weiss is a loner, and all the things she's had to hide. And maybe, Yang can help her get through it, one day at a time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Social Status

Weiss Schnee prided herself on being the epitome of everything a Schnee should be. She was formal and poised. She had proper diction, proper stance in her fighting, and proper poise in high society. She was everything an heiress should be. All the adults of her father's inner circle wanted their children to be just like her. All the children of those adults envied and hated her. All the young, wealthy men of Atlas wanted her hand in marriage.

There was only one problem with Weiss' perfect world and perfect life: all the young men wanted her, but she wanted nothing to do with them.

It was a fact Weiss had learned early and with no small amount of horror. No matter how much she forced herself to stare at boys and go over the so-called "perfect boy checklist" she had compiled from various teen magazines, she simply found herself without interest. Instead, her gaze fell to the young women on their arms. To their form fitting dresses and their perfect hair. To their beautiful smiles and laughing eyes. To their soft voices and fine manners.

Weiss had yet to meet an aspect of a woman she didn't like in some way, shape, or form, but she could list everything wrong with a singular man inside of ten seconds. It was a fact that she knew kept her from being her father's perfect heir. And so she kept it secret, kept it locked away, and even managed to forget it, for a time.

Until she ended up on Team RWBY at Beacon Academy.

At first, Weiss didn't think anything of being surrounded by many beautiful women. Yes, it was terribly distracting, and yes, she found herself stumbling in her stance and her style around Pyrrha Nikos – but honestly, who wouldn't? – but, for the most part, Weiss held it together. After all, she'd spent so long forcing herself to conceal and ignore the part of herself attracted to women. It wouldn't do well to break down the first time she was away from her father.

And then, she saw Yang Xiao Long shirtless and all thoughts of concealment and composure flew out of her head.

Yang, for her part, seemed completely unperturbed at Weiss walking into the room while she was changing. In fact, all Yang said was, "Hey Weiss," and then she resumed digging through her dresser for a bra.

Weiss, for her part, had completely forgotten how to speak.

Yang turned around completely, having dug a tank top out of her dresser. She yanked it over her head and raised an eyebrow at Weiss.

"You okay?" she asked.

Weiss struggled to find her voice. Made an aborted garbling sound instead.

With a snort, Yang folded her arms under her ample chest and said, "Take a picture, princess, it'll last longer."

Weiss gasped. "That's not… I wasn't. Don't flatter yourself, I wasn't staring." Her voice switched to a snarl as she spoke, her eyes narrowing and her fists clenching at her sides.

"Riiiiiight," said Yang, smirking. "Hey." Yang shrugged. "No shame, I know I'm hot. Glad to see you think it too. Maybe you _do_ have taste, after all."

Weiss faltered again. Found she couldn't speak. Folded her arms across herself and pointedly looked away. But the trembling had already started in her lip and in her hands. She'd worked so _hard_ to hide who – and what – she was from the world. And here was Yang, undoing her in an instant with a single ill-timed entrance into the room.

It wasn't fair.

"Hey, you all right?" asked Yang. And Weiss found the world was blurry from tears she hadn't noticed forming.

Then there was a hand on her shoulder and one on her chin, guiding her face up to Yang's. The concern in those purple eyes made Weiss' knees weak. And she felt her exterior crumbling all over again. Weiss let her forehead fall to Yang's shoulder. Let the trembling overtake her. She didn't have the strength to fight it anymore.

"Yang Xiao Long, I wish I could hate you," Weiss mumbled into Yang's shoulder.

Yang tensed, but after a moment she relaxed again and started stroking Weiss' back.

"Why's that?" asked Yang. It was genuine curiosity that coloured her voice, not amusement or teasing.

Weiss debated her next words. Debated how honest she wanted to be. But she was already broken, so what else did she have to lose?

"It's easier to pretend you're not attracted to someone when you hate them," said Weiss. Her voice was barely above a whisper, hoarse and thick with tears and fear. She was as tense as she'd ever been, shaking with the anticipation of being shunned and turned away. Yang made jokes, yes, but surely even she would know that Weiss couldn't be anything less than perfect.

"What?" said Yang. And it was confusion, not amusement, again. Weiss knew that Yang tended to sound amused, but she couldn't find a trace of it in any part of Yang. That concerned her. She stepped back from Yang, staring up at her with terrified eyes.

This was it. This was the end of her time at Beacon Academy.

"Why wouldn't you want to be attracted to me?" asked Yang. She smiled, though it was softer than her usual grins. "I'm pretty great."

Weiss faltered. Sputtered. "Because you're a _girl!_ "

A dark shadow fell across Yang's face. Her eyes flashed red – it lasted only a moment, but Weiss saw it. And in that moment, she saw a similar shadow in her mind's eye. The shadow that had fallen across her father's face the first time he saw her blush over a girl. Weiss remembered how quickly she'd lied, how quickly the words had fallen from her tongue in a desperate, terrified attempt to pacify the man. He hadn't raised a hand to her.

Not that time, at least.

She'd learned to hide it better, after that.

"Weiss, there is nothing wrong with liking women," said Yang. There was a sharpness in her tone. A sharpness that tasted metallic on Weiss' tongue. She realized, belatedly, that she'd bitten her tongue to keep herself from crying. It was a trick she'd picked up as a kid, for when everything began to decline.

The look in Yang's eyes hadn't been the same one as her father's. His had been shame. Yang's was anger. But that anger wasn't directed at Weiss. A small mercy.

"I like them – love them, even." Yang took her shoulders as she spoke. "Plenty of women do. And plenty of men like men." It didn't sound rehearsed, but Weiss found the words rang hollowly in her ears. Yang couldn't possibly understand what it meant to be her. Couldn't possibly know how long Weiss had worked to keep her secret, well, secret.

And yet here Yang was, trying to convince her of something that couldn't possibly be true.

"You lie," said Weiss, and the words were thick and clumsy on her tongue.

Yang rolled her eyes. "Weiss, not one member of my family is straight," said Yang, slowly. "I'm bi, Ruby's ace, Uncle Qrow and Dad are practically married…" She shook her head. "It's not wrong. If it was, my entire family would have been driven out of Vale a long, long time ago. And that's not even counting some of the teachers here at Beacon. You seen the way Oz and the doc look at each other?"

Weiss shook her head. It was hot and pounding. The world was spinning around her. She swallowed hard against the bile rising in her throat. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't happening. She was dreaming of something she'd never have. A painful, bittersweet dream that was just out of reach.

"Weiss, it's okay," said Yang. "Please believe me." There was a hint of desperation in Yang's voice. And, when Weiss managed to look at Yang, that desperation was echoed in Yang's eyes. Weiss and Yang stared at each other, neither one saying anything, both silently willing the other to just _understand._

It was Weiss that broke first.

"My father…" She broke off, swallowed hard against a second wave of nausea. He'd hurt her if he knew. Hurt her if he knew about her team. Take her away from Beacon and never let her return.

"Yeah, I've heard," murmured Yang. She rubbed the back of her neck, the gesture oddly self-conscious for the Yang Xiao Long that Weiss was used to.

Weiss took a few stumbling steps and collapsed onto her bed, sitting up. She pressed her hands tightly onto her knees in an effort to stop their trembling. Yang sat on her own bed, directly across from Weiss'. She stared, eyes soft, but didn't say a word.

Eventually, after several minutes of awkward, tense silence, Weiss found her voice.

"It's not as easy as you make it sound, to accept what you're saying," said Weiss, slowly. "All my life, I've had to be perfect. Perfect poise, perfect fighting style, perfect manners." The words tumbled out of her, halting and shaking. "And part of being perfect was liking boys. I had to have the perfect husband – one fitting for the Schnee name."

Weiss' lip trembled and she fought back a sob. Images of the dozens of boys her father had paraded past her in the last year bloomed in her mind. She heard their empty words, saw their empty smiles. She couldn't remember one of their names.

All she remembered was the hot strike of a hand across her cheek that night. The warm, metallic taste of blood in her mouth. The tears that had poured down her face in rivets. The disgust in her father's tone. She'd promised him she'd make him proud. Promised him that she was only feeling under the weather.

He'd believed her. Or maybe he simply hadn't wanted to believe the truth. Either way, he'd left her there. Let her tend to her own wounds and cry herself to sleep in a big, empty room that would never hold a bunk bed.

The next day, she'd applied for Beacon Academy.

"But you never liked boys, right?" Yang's question brought Weiss out of her memories. She found herself blinking hard against the tears that had formed in her vison.

"No," said Weiss. The confession seemed to echo in the otherwise empty room. Weiss tensed again. "I've always… preferred women." And there, she'd said it. And it might have been the first time she'd ever said those words aloud.

The terror remained, but there was also a lightness in saying them. A weight lifted from her shoulders.

Yang nodded. "Nothing wrong with that," she said, shrugging. "But then, I guess that's hard to believe, huh?"

That was putting it lightly.

Weiss fiddled with her skirt. It was true that she found Yang attractive, and true that she enjoyed spending time with Yang. And now, having Yang to talk about this… imperfection of hers with. Well, it helped.

"Thank you," said Weiss, quietly.

"Do you believe me?" asked Yang.

Weiss frowned. "I don't know. I know you believe yourself, however, and that you're not judging me." A soft smile graced her features. "That helps."

"I bet," said Yang, voice barely above a whisper. "Listen, if you need anything, Weiss. I'm here, okay?"

Weiss nodded. "There is… something," said Weiss, slowly.

"Oh?" asked Yang. "Name it."

Weiss took a deep breath. This might have been one of the hardest moments of her life. Her heart pounded in her throat. Her stomach roiled with nausea. Her entire body felt hot and cold at the same time. Her hands trembled so badly she clasped them hard to her knees and dug in her nails.

"If… _When_ I do, eventually, believe you," started Weiss. She saw Yang grin at the word correction. "Do you think we could… perhaps… possibly…"

"Yeah?" asked Yang.

"Go out for coffee?" asked Weiss. She sucked in a breath as she spoke, the words tumbling out all at once. She was pushing it too far, she knew. But the fear didn't overwhelm her attraction. This was Beacon. It was different. And if she was going to lose everything over a single imperfection. If she was going to lose her name for preferring women to men. Well, she was going to enjoy it. At least once.

"A date?" asked Yang, her grin as broad and hopeful as ever.

Weiss dropped her gaze to her lap, finding herself unable to look Yang in the eye as she said, "Yes, a date." Her voice trembled as she spoke.

"Sure!" Yang's enthusiasm exploded into the room. The word was loud and boisterous.

Weiss' eyes went wide as her gaze snapped back up to Yang.

"Really?" she asked.

Yang nodded. "Of course. Whenever you're ready, I'm not in a rush." She stood up and held out a hand to Weiss, smiling. "We'll go as slow as you need, talk about everything you want. And, until then, know I'm here as your friend too, okay?"

Weiss' lip trembled, but this time the tears the stung her eyes were happy, not brought on by fear or grief. She nodded.

"Okay," said Weiss. And, with her fingers still trembling, she reached up and took Yang's hand, tangling their fingers together.

In that moment, Weiss knew that she could handle this. That she could get passed this. Especially with her teammates – and Yang – by her side. Rich, corrupted fathers be damned.


End file.
